Celebrating Peterborough’s greatest residents

Walter Cornelius, Peterborough strongman who worked at the Lido. He is preparing for his appearance on Blue Peter where they smashed a concrete block over his head. EMN-170704-092342009

The society and its members spend a great deal of time looking at issues of planning, growth and development. We consider, and have plenty to say about, buildings, roads, townships and new initiatives including the proposed new university or the recent trend for building flats (if you stand still for long enough in Peterborough you’ll get converted into flats).

However, the magnificent west front of the cathedral, Ferry Meadows and its upkeep as well as the myriad of other splendid local places are nothing without people. It’s not the cycles in Bridge Street that get folks wound up, it’s the people riding them! So, for once, let’s celebrate Peterborough people.

In Victorian times there was no Netflix, radio or even Peterborough United to keep us entertained. I’m reliably informed that people sat round and invented parlour games to keep themselves amused. Well here’s a game for you – write down ten influential or memorable Peterborians, people that, for whatever reason – good or bad – have seeped into your consciousness, affected or influenced you.

Here’s my list (in first name alphabetical order) – Charles Swift, Edith Cavell, Ernie Wise, Frank Perkins, Henry Pearson Gates, John Clare, Ken Charlery, Peter Boizot, Richard Paten and Wyndham Thomas. I can hear people screaming, “But you’ve forgotten …!” To misquote Lesley (as opposed to Al) Gore – it’s my list and I’ll choose who I want to.

I could also have gone all ecclesiastical on you by mentioning cathedral-related luminaries – Old Scarlett, Katharine of Aragon, Abbot Benedict, Abbot Kirkton, Bishop Bill Westwood or Stanley Vann.

Perhaps I’ll save them for another day. My personal list is purely secular!

I could have gone all Paeda and Kyneburgha on you but not today. I could have been all educational – Jack Hunt, John Mansfield, Arthur Mellows, Thomas Deacon. I could have been all Posh – Tommy Robson, Terry Bly, Craig Mackail-Smith, Robbie Cooke, Fred Barber, Bobby Doyle, Norman Rigby, Mick Halsall, Ken Charlery (again and again and again).

On another day I might have trodden the literary path – Edward Storey, L. P. Hartley, Lotte Kramer, John Fletcher and William Morton. I might have devised my own women-only shortlist – Edith Cavell (again), Margaret Gibson, Audrey Chalmers, Katherine Clayton, Jessie Elborne, Florence Saunders, Lotte Kramer, Ethel Granger and Phyllis Stedman.

There are local people who have devoted their lives to studying, promoting and celebrating the lives of our eminent citizens. These include Michael Lee who is a renowned expert of the bell founder Henry Penn. Just visit the Voice of the City installation in lower Bridge Street to learn a little more.

There are dozens more illustrious and industrious local people who spend hours researching Peterborough, its people and its history. I admire their endeavours.

But there is one person I’ve left out – a man guaranteed to generate one of two reactions – newer Peterborians will look blank and say, “Who?”. Older citizens will remember him fondly with a smile and a tale or two. I refer, of course, to Walter Cornelius. He was Peterborough’s most famous immigrant, renowned for his friendly disposition and strong man feats.

He embodies all that represents Peterborough – an outsider who moved to Peterborough and left the city richer than it was prior to his arrival. Walter was an ordinary man who became extraordinary. Walter was unique, an eccentric, unconventional, a one-off and certainly an original. His life and feats are briefly explained in my poem that accompanies this page. And if you want a visual reminder of Walter visit the Lido and read the plaque dedicated to him just inside the main entrance. Alternatively, when you walk past the Lido, look up and see his Birdman persona immortalised by the weathervane on top of its clock tower.

There will be many others that we should laud and celebrate. Indeed the civic society is on the point of commissioning 15 new blue plaques to add to the existing 21 in the city centre but, dear reader, you will just have to wait for another day to hear about those...